Maxance Vincent

The Last of Us was one of the most-anticipated projects of 2023. The video game it was based on was one of the most revered contemporary games in the past decade, and its sequel was also just as well-received, even amidst the polarizing reception from fans. An adaptation was inevitable, and the HBO series based on the game knocked it out of the park. It was ultra-faithful to the source material, expanded upon some aspects of the game, and delivered a much richer show.
Designing sets for a vid...

Miles Warren’s Bruiser is not an easy film to watch. What starts as a simple coming-of-age drama following the tribulations of young Darious (Jalyn Hall) morphs into an impactful and terrifying portrait of manhood when Darious’s birth father, Porter (Trevante Rhodes), comes back into town and wants to spend time with his son. His adoptive father, Malcolm (Shamier Anderson), vehemently disapproves and will prevent Darious from seeing Porter. However, Darious isn’t on speaking terms with Malcol...

Emma Mackey galvanizes the screen in Frances O’Connor’s wildly unique biopic on the life of Emily Brontë.
There is a longing for the days of biopics that aren’t Wikipedia-esque summaries of the subjects they focus on. Frances O’Connor’s Emily thankfully is not such a a case, and instead, asks audiences to go on an emotionally challenging journey that chronicles the imperfect life of Emily Brontë (Emma Mackey), author of Wuthering Heights. The film follows how Emily went on to write the novel ...

Director: Elizabeth Banks
Writer: Jimmy Warden
Stars: Kerri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ray Liotta
Synopsis: An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.
How can you screw up something so basic like Cocaine Bear? That was the question I asked myself while sitting through Elizabeth Banks’ insanely promising, yet terribly unfunny movie that lac...

While the tenth episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch - Season 2 is mediocre at best, its storytelling cracks are starting to show.
*Warning: the following article contains spoilers for episode ten of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2*
Continuing from last week’s episode, Retrieval shows The Bad Batch (Dee Bradley Baker) attempting to retrieve (hence the episode title) the Marauder after discovering that it has not left the planet they’re currently in. Again, this sounds like a filler episode...

Few actors can bring so much raw power to the screen as Tony Leung Chiu-wai does with long stares into the void as he smokes endless amounts of cigarettes. That’s what made his mark in Chinese cinema through the films of Wong Kar-wai, and director Cheng Er knows exactly how Leung can shy in Hidden Blade. He’s arguably the best part of the whole thing, an espionage thriller focusing on undercover Communist spies who infiltrate the Japanese army to obtain secret information that will cause thei...

The Consultant is a highly intriguing television series. From the moment it begins, it hooks you in almost immediately, as the mystery of who exactly Regus Patoff (Christoph Waltz) is takes up most of the show. That mysterious presence that imbued Waltz’s performance as Patoff, a character that entraps other protagonists, is also found in the sets, which, according to Production Designer Clarence Major, was trying to ensure that audiences “were drawn into this elaborate maze. Once you’re in t...

I am not exaggerating when I say that Your Place or Mine is the worst romantic comedy I have seen in a very long time, possibly ever. So many cringe-worthy romantic comedies have populated our screens over the years, but none were as dull and completely inane as Aline Brosh McKenna’s dreadful Your Place or Mine. The concept seemed fun enough for Netflix, but it’s the most tiresome and laziest way to make two people (with no chemistry) fall in love by the end.
Maybe that’s why the movie keeps ...

When Sebastian Stan’s character appears in Benjamin Caron’s Sharper, audiences can easily guess the direction of the film even if Julianne Moore and John Lithgow’s characters have not been introduced. Stan plays Max, who hires Sandra (Briana Middleton) for a job that involves stealing a considerable amount of money from Tom (Justice Smith), the son of billionaire Richard Hobbes (Lithgow), married to Madeline (Moore).
Sharper is presented in character vignettes, connecting every player to the ...

Jonathan Majors has already solidified himself as one of the greatest rising actors of our time with stellar performances in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Da 5 Bloods, and Devotion. After Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Majors’ status as the next big Hollywood star is already written on the walls. His performance as Kang the Conqueror is the stuff of legends: a superbly dramatic, and ultra-theatrical, portrayal of the iconic villain with a brutish stance that makes him immediately t...

Director: Neil Jordan
Writer: William Monahan
Stars: Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, Diane Kruger, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Synopsis: In late 1930s Bay City, a brooding, down on his luck detective is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress.
When will Liam Neeson ever make a good movie again? I had hoped that it would be the case with Neil Jordan’s Marlowe, as Neeson reunites with the director who crafted one of the best films (and performances) of his career in- Michael Collins. The sev...

Warning: This feature discusses major plot details for Lukas Dhont’s Close and Florian Zeller’s The Son and has mentions of suicide and self-harm.
There’s never a feeling more gut-wrenching than as a kid or a teenager when your best friend doesn’t want to hang out with you anymore. There’s no legitimate explanation for it. One day, you’re solidifying a brother-like relationship with your friend, until someone at school starts to question the nature of your friendship, or looks at you with a w...

The first trailer for Amazon’s new series, Citadel, has been released online. The streaming service is betting big on the show, which will launch a shared universe of international spinoffs. As of this writing, Italian, Mexican, and Indian spinoff shows are currently in production, with a Spanish one also in the works. The show will star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci, and Lesley Manville.
Created by Josh Applebaum and Bryan Oh, the show has been produced by Anthony Russ...

*Warning: the following review of episode nine of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2 contains spoilers*
Oh, well. I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but every time I think, “Ok, this is where the season will kick into gear,”…it doesn’t, though I’ll keep this one brief. After two genuinely thrilling episodes, episode nine of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2 continues the story of Clone Force 99 (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) not with a bang but with a massive whimper. Howeve...

Director: Jonah Feingold
Writers: Jonah Feingold, Maria Hinojos, Giovanni M. Porta
Stars: Monica Barbaro, Diego Boneta, Anders Holm
Synopsis: At Midnight is a romantic comedy about two people who have made the “safe” choice not to fall in love.
Jonah Feingold’s At Midnight has been done time and again in Hollywood, and it’s time for studios to stop greenlighting the same variation on the same theme. A popular (but typecast) Hollywood star (Monica Barbaro) in love with another bigshot star (An...